Repurposed sheets

One pair of PJ pants would normally not rate its own blog post, but I've been bad about posting lately and am trying to fix that. In addition, I just need to rave about these for other reasons.

I have definitely repurposed sheets before - I've made sheets into baby pack-n-play or crib sheets, I've made sheets into PJs for birthday gifts and Operation Christmas Child gifts, and I've made them into cloth napkins (not blogged). But I've never made flannel sheets into PJs before - at least not that I can remember, and definitely not for myself. I got this fitted flannel sheet at a thrift store several years ago, I think. Since I love snowmen, I thought this would be great for winter PJ pants for me. And between the PR Fabric Stash contest and needing to sew another pair of PJ pants (same size) for a friend's birthday, I had the impetus to do something about it. OMG! Can I just say how incredibly soft these PJ pants are? Soooo comfy. I love them! I'm guessing it's from all the use and washing they got in their previous life. At any rate, I would totally use old flannel sheets again for PJs. I may have to keep an eye out at the thrift store.....

More gift sewing....

Thing 2 was invited to another birthday party. As previously mentioned, there are 15 or so kids in his kindergarten class, so $$ for birthday party presents adds up! I decided to have him help me choose fabric to make an Art-on-the-Go kit for her, then add colored pencils, a notebook, and some foam door hangers and foam stickers for other art projects. The gift didn't get the same wild enthusiasm as the Barbies and such, but I think the mom appreciated it. :) And it's more the kind of gift that is appreciated later on, when the toys lose a bit of luster. The entire "art gift" probably cost me $10 in materials, but only $4 in actual money, since all of the fabric/notions came from my stash. (And I made 3 at once, so there are 2 more in my gift stash!)

I had previously made the green sheet in the top of the picture for my new niece's bassinette, which apparently is like a pack-n-play but an odd size. That one was my prototype, since I had no idea how long to make the elastic. Turned out I guessed a little short, and they had to cut the casing in 4 places to release it all so that they could verify the sheet itself was the right size. I then sent another one - same size, but 10 inches longer elastic - which fit just right. (That one isn't pictured, but it came from a jersey sheet that I repurposed.) But it took quite some time to get word that it fit - apparently checking the fit and getting back to me wasn't a priority until the baby arrived, and suddenly they wanted more sheets! ;) So I fixed the green sheet so that it was usable again, and I made 4 more sheets - 2 flannel, 2 cotton - all from stash. They have some Winnie the Pooh stuff in the nursery, I'm told, so I was pretty happy to have 2 Pooh prints to use. This brings the total up to 6 sheets that I've sewn, which should be pretty good for a bassinette.
A friend had a birthday earlier this month, and she loves the PJ pants I make her. She just got a snowflake pair at Christmas, but I saw this flannel on clearance last summer and just had to get it for her. I know that she loves the neon colors in the print, but I'm not sure how she'll feel about the skulls....hopefully she's okay with them. This is my TNT PJ pattern, M3006.
And I had made her a square corn bag last year at Christmas, but apparently she put it in the microwave too long earlier this year. Her mom relayed a deep desire for a new one, so I just had to oblige. ;) I squeaked the cover out of the leftovers from her PJ pants.

More boy jammies!

Yep, I can't help making more and more boy jammies, it seems! The first pair was a birthday gift for a friend's son. I gave her older son a pair of summer jammies for his birthday, and apparently his younger brother was quite envious! I give them both PJ pants at Christmas (usually, anyway - this year they got Toy Story PJ pants, which apparently I never blogged....must rectify....), but I thought that this young man could use a full PJ set for his birthday. I've had an old twin sheet for a few years now - I either got it from a thrift store or freecycle - and I thought it would be perfect for little boy jammies. There are many baseball team logos on it, so little worry about choosing the "wrong" team fabric. Anyway, I used my trusty TNT pattern, KS 3042. This is a size S, since he's rapidly growing.

And at the same time, I made the final (for now) PJ set for Thing 1. He loves penguins, so this fabric was a no-brainer when I saw it on Black Friday. This is size M, with an inch or two added in leg length for growth room. He loves them! And since he's now gotten 4 new pairs of jammies, I think he's set for awhile.

Baby stuff!

My new niece is here, and so I just have to make her cute stuff, right? She's small, so I figured a couple more newborn gowns would still be useful. My brother is a devoted Bears fan living in Packer country, so I had to make her a Bears outfit for football time.

And her nursery was originally slated to be brown and orange, with a giraffe theme, so I thought this giraffe would be adorable as an applique. (I got it off a zoo T-shirt, and I have more available for future use.)
For both the newborn gowns, I used T-shirt sleeves to cut the sleeves and neck bindings.

Then we move into the crocheting territory! When I was carrying Thing 1 (and Thing 2, for that matter!), we decided to be surprised at delivery. So I was prepared for a potential girl! I crocheted this sacque set from a Crochet with Heart magazine in non-traditional baby colors, because I thought they were cool. (I still think they're cool!)
And this was from an old Annie's Attic crochet magazine. Not high on warmth, but pretty! And since both Things turned out to NOT be girls, they've been unworn. I recently ran across them in a box and decided to give them a new home where they would actually be used. So off to my niece they go!
These newborn socks were crocheted specifically for my niece. Socks are so easy to trim, and these socks are usually quite a hit at baby showers. I sent two pairs each in newborn and small sizes. And since they are so quick to make up, I have more waiting, for after I hear how well they fit. And I have more to be used for future baby gifts, as well....because they're addictive to work up during movies!

Silhouettes!

I was browsing through magazines at Lowe's, while my husband was checking out, and I saw some framed silhouettes on the cover of one of them. Unfortunately, I can't remember which one now - oops! Anyway, I skimmed the article but didn't buy the magazine. Unlike most classical silhouettes, which are black on white, these were white silhouettes, backed with a bright blue and framed in white. I thought they looked really cool, and I decided I had to try it!

The article had discussed making the silhouettes and backgrounds from artist's foam, so I bought white artist's foam in 12x18 sheets from Hobby Lobby. The profile pictures I took of Things 1&2 were printed out as 8x10s, and I was able to cut both silhouettes from 1 sheet. When we decided roughly where we wanted to put the pictures, I went back to find burgundy foam for the backgrounds, but that didn't exist. It was all bright colors. So I found a mottled burgundy 12x12 scrapbook paper instead. I tried to find frames at HL, but I wanted white, and they didn't have any that I liked in an 11x14 size. Instead, I found these frames at WM.

Originally, we were going to have both silhouettes facing the same direction, but then my husband got the idea to have them face each other and put a smaller color photo of them in the middle. I love this one that I took at the City Museum earlier this fall. They look so happy, and the balls are so colorful - it was a no-brainer choice! I had that photo blown up to an 8x10 and then found the frame at WM again. We'll get these hung tonight, before we ring in the New Year.

Sewing for pets

My dog, as has been previously mentioned, is quite senior. And while I'm not into cutesy dog coats and such, she does get cold. After last winter, I vowed that if she made it to this winter, I'd make her a jacket. And, well, she's still here! So time for a jacket. I had picked up Simplicity 952o last spring sometime, as it was the only pattern I'd seen for larger dogs, and it had some good reviews on PatternReview. I wanted to make her view E, because it looked like it would adequately cover her butt and belly but didn't have a hood. It calls for 2 yards of fleece, but it is completely self-lined, so really, I got by with 1 yard of fleece for the outer and 1 yard for the lining. (My lining is plain black fleece.)

This was the perfect length for my dog! It is a bit snug across the back, though. I had made the lining first and tried it on her, and it seemed perfect. But once I added the outer shell, it seemed to pull at the sleeves. So next time, I'll add about an inch in width for the back. But I think that's about it. You can see that the front comes up to cover her chest, coming almost as high as her collar.

Because my dog wears a harness for walks, I ignored the instructions for creating a leash opening for the collar. (Though I skimmed those and thought they seemed like a good way to do it.) Instead, I put her harness on, put the coat on over it (as she'll be wearing it), and then felt for the D-ring of the harness and marked it on the coat. I stitched a large buttonhole in that place and cut a slit opening for the D-ring.

I used snaps instead of velcro to fasten the coat, as I don't like washing velcro with fleece, and this coat will undoubtedly be washed frequently. And I bound the edges with nylon-lycra instead of doing a turn and topstitched edge. It enabled me to have no raw edges on the jacket, and it gave her just a touch more length in the jacket.

I will definitely be making this again! One to wash and one to wear, right? And I'll probably make a single-layer version for wearing in the house - because we do keep it cool inside, and she does shiver sometimes.

Jammies!

Thing 1 has outgrown most of his jammies, and even the ones that he can still wear are starting to look like waders on him. Not a good look! And also not so good for staying warm at night when your parents refuse to turn the heat above 65....though they have plenty of double-layer fleece blankets....but still....

Time to have a jammie sewing party! I decided to start with KS 3042 in flannel. The most recent jammie pants from this pattern were a size S, so I traced a size M and added an inch of length. I also traced the size M top in long sleeves but did not add length to that. I had this robot flannel that I purchased early last year. I intended to make him a set from the flannel, but unfortunately I didn't have quite enough. Instead, I pulled this yellow flannel out of stash to make the top. Thing 2 has plenty of jammies that fit, so I wasn't going to make him a pair. However, since I had plenty of both the robot and yellow flannels, I figured why not? He loves new jammies, especially if they match his brother's. So I made his in a size XS - no changes. These fit great, with room to grow! (Which is good, as I have a penguin flannel purchased on Black Friday this year to become jammies for Thing 1.)

I love making/giving the boys a special pair of jammies for Christmas, and I had purchased a Christmas ooga booga knit velour for this year. However, I needed to be certain of the sizing for Thing 1 especially! I have used KS 2275 for the pants and KS 2894 for the raglan shirt. So I made up a pair in a turtle camo waffle knit I purchased on clearance in early 2009. I realize that the waffle knit is bad about stretching in width and shrinking in length (as happened to these shark jammies), but I figured that this particular knit has been washed 3-4x so hopefully that won't be much of a problem. And, besides, at least I could get a good idea of the size on the first wearing, and then it's all fair game. So size M for the shirt and size 7 for the pants - one size up on shirt and two up on pants from the shark jammies - and there is definite growth room in both! Oh, and I realize the ribbing doesn't really match, but it was the best I could do, unless I went with black, and I just wanted to keep it totally bright and cheerful.

And then the Christmas jammies! Thing 1 has fallen in love with the ooga booga fabric and has 2 shirts made from other colorways (grey/red/black and rainbow), and Thing 2 likes them, though I haven't yet made him a shirt from them. So I knew these would be a hit! I bought the fabric from the Sew It Seams coop (formerly This-End-Up) in both interlock (intended for shirts which didn't happen - there's always next Christmas....) and cotton velour, which I thought would make really nice jammies. The larger pair are the same as the turtle camo, and the smaller pair are XS shirt and size 5 pants. Both are definitely a bit big, but that just gives a chance that they'll still fit next Christmas! (Maybe?) And I took their picture beside the tree to go in our (late) Christmas cards.